August 3rd, 2012 
Mark Peterson 
Posted in 
- Rams had their first practice in pads on Thursday. Steven Jackson both received and gave out some punishment. Offensive and defensive tempers flared, but nothing got out of control.
- Thursday, tackle Rokevious Watkins participated in team drills for the first time since reporting to training camp out of shape and overweight. Prior, he had been subjected to 5 days of grueling personal training to get him up to speed physically. Here’s a quote from Rokevious, “I felt good, I got some good work in from the couple of reps I got,” he said. “There are a couple of things I still need to keep improving (on), with getting back in the groove and everything, but I’ll come out tomorrow and try to get better again.” From Andrew Wagaman, stltoday.com.
- The following players are having a good training camp and impressing onlookers: Sam Bradford Lance Kendrick, Chris Long, Quintin Mikell, Janoris Jenkins, Isaiah Pead, and others…
- WR Brian Quick understands that having the physical tools is not enough (he is 6’3”, 220, and fast) he has got to put in the time learning the play book. The game moves fast and you have to know what’s coming.
- Replacement officials have been seen in camp. Each year the referees come to warm up for the preseason and to share new rules with the team. There were 5 rules changes approved for 2012:
- Changing overtime so that the postseason rule will be used in the regular season as well, and no regular-season games will be ended on a field goal on the first possession of overtime.
- Adding a loss of down to the penalty for kicking a loose ball, as is the case in college football.
- Adopting the college rule for too many men on the field, which is a dead-ball foul if a team lines up on offense for more than three seconds, or if a team on defense lines up with too many men and the snap is imminent. In those cases, the officials will blow the play dead and assess a five-yard penalty. This change wouldn’t affect the rulings on players running off the field who don’t get off in time.
- Expanding the defenseless player rule to protect defensive players on crackback blocks, making it illegal to hit them in the head or neck area.
- Automatically reviewing turnovers via instant replay, just as scoring plays are automatically reviewed.
- The NFL preseason begins Sunday when the Saints play the Cardinals in the Hall of Fame Game in Canton.
The 2012 season is right around the corner. Go Rams!!!
